Collection: Whose phone metadata is it? USA TODAY file photo

Written by

the USA TODAY Editorial Board

Americans upset by the government's indiscriminate sweeping up of phone records got hopeful news Thursday. President Obama proposed new rules that would go a long way toward ending the most disturbing aspects of this mass collection effort, done in secret for years before fugitive leaker Edward Snowden confirmed its existence last summer.

Under Obama's plan, the National Security Agency would no longer collect "metadata" on whom you call, when you call and how long you talk. These records would remain with phone companies, which already keep them for business reasons. NSA officials -- ...